• The Chester County Sheriff’s office is offering a six-week
class on the U.S. Constitution beginning Tuesday, Jan. 11. A one-time
registration fee of $10 covers the cost of materials and refreshments. Classes,
held at the Chester County Justice Center, 201 W. Market Street, run from 7-9
p.m. on consecutive weeks. The class is based on the book The Five Thousand
Year Leap. To register, phone 610-344-6855 or e-mail cwelsh@chesco.org. Please include name,
address, phone and contact information for each person attending. The class
size is limited to 50 people.
• Friday, Dec. 24, is the annual open house at Leader Sunoco.
It’s a smorgasbord in the service bay beginning at 10 a.m.
• Dan Doubet Jewelers in Olde Ridge Village is hosting a Breakfast at Doubets Sunday, Dec. 19 from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. The menu includes pastries, bagels, bloody Marys, mimosas
and coffee. There is also a sterling jewelry sale until 5 p.m. Buy two pieces
and the less expensive piece is 50 percent off.
• Dig into the fascinating world of dinosaurs at the 18th
annual Dino Days at the Delaware Museum of Natural History Monday, Dec. 27 and
Tuesday, Dec. 28. Admission is $10 for adults, $8 for children (3-17), $9 for
seniors, free for children 2 and younger. Discounts for museum members. For more
information visit www.delmnh.org
or call 302-658-9111.
An e-mail from the Pennsylvania
Historic and Museum Commission gave members of the Friends of The Brandywine
Battlefield another jolt. The message indicated the park would close—again—but
there has been a reprieve.
The park shut down for two
weeks in August of 2009 after PHMC stopped funding its operation. With the help
of contributions from various sources—including Delaware County, several
townships and the Chadds Ford Civic Association—the park reopened after a
temporary agreement was reached with the state, Chadds Ford Township and the
Friends.
Rich Bowers, the newly elected
president of the Friends group, said the e-mail from the Bureau of Historic
Sites and Museums Director Steve Miller came in November and sent the group
members scrambling to figure out a way to keep the park operating.
There was a one meeting among
members of the Friends’ board. Bowers said there was a great deal of concern
over the possible shutdown, even a temporary one, with no reopen date. He said
it would be like starting all over again.
“If we close with no definite
reopening date, it becomes a startup business which costs even more,” he said.
“…Even if we close down temporarily [but] with a definitive reopening date, at
least you can continue to market to the school groups and promote Summer
History Camp, which are our two biggest programs.”
The final decision, resulting
in an abbreviated operating schedule for school programs only January through
March, came during a Dec. 6 meeting in Harrisburg.
Attending the meeting were Dave
Woods, the chief of staff for state Sen. Dominic Pileggi who brokered the
temporary agreement last year, Bowers, Miller, PHMC Executive Director Barbara
Franco and Chadds Ford Township Supervisor George Thorpe.
“It was a positive meeting, by
the end result…The Friends’ group is signing a three-month extension to our
agreement with PHMC, which will keep us functioning to the end of March,” he
said.
It allows for the school
programs to continue and lets the Friends operate the gift shop. The
abbreviated hours wills save the Friends some money, according to Bowers, but
it doesn’t save the state any money. Its costs—maintenance and grounds keeping—
remain the same whether the park is open or closed.
Keeping the park open for
school groups for those three months isn’t significant in terms of attendance.
Bowers said there are usually very few groups that time of year.
“Once April comes around, we’ll
go back to the normal operations from April through the end of the year, open
most days and weekends,” Bowers said.
From January through March, the
park will be closed to the general public, even on the weekends.
Area residents who like to walk
at the park will likely be able to continue, he said. The chains will block the
driveways, but Bowers said people would still be able to park at the bottom of
the entrance.
“They’ve done that forever,” he
said.
Bowers said there is funding in
place to keep the park going for another year and PHMC understood that closing
it now, with no definitive date to reopen, would kill the momentum that’s built
up by volunteer efforts during the past 16 months.
Keeping the park operating is
important for people to understand a significant portion of the War of
Independence.
“There’s a lot of tourism that
comes to the region for the Philadelphia Campaign. They might go to Germantown
or they might go to Paoli or Valley Forge. Well, Brandywine was the beginning
and Valley Forge was the end. If you close one end, there’s no context…[PHMC]
definitely understands the importance,” said Bowers
Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.
Dec. 14, 2010 was a day of
extremes. The Philadelphia Phillies pulled off a coup and the U.S. House
Democrats created the type of stink that rhymes with coup.
The Phils have had some bad
teams over the years, and a few good ones. Mostly they were bad ones. They were
so bad that players balked at coming to the Phils.
One case in point was Curt
Flood, an outfielder with the St. Louis Cardinals who was so vehemently against
being traded to the Phils in 1969 that he challenged Major League Baseball’s
reserve clause. That clause bound a player to a team for the length of his
career unless he was traded.
Mr. Flood fought the trade,
eventually taking the case to the Supreme Court. He lost the case, but players
rallied together and the reserve clause became a thing of the past. Free agency
eventually became the norm.
As recently as 1997 there were
still payers who didn’t want to play for Philadelphia. The team drafted JD Drew
that year, but he sat out and re-entered the draft in 1998 when the St. Louis
Cardinals selected him.
But now, people want to play
for the Phillies. Last December they traded for premiere pitcher Roy Halladay.
He wanted to be here and immediately signed a contract extension. And on Dec.
14, they were able to get back fan favorite Cliff Lee who they traded away
after acquiring Halladay. He, too, wanted to play for this franchise. Lee was
so eager to return to Philly that he turned down a better financial offer from
the New York Yankees.
The Phillies have sure changed
how they are perceived because the franchise has started doing the right things.
It wants to win and is willing to do the things necessary to make that happen.
If only the U.S. Congress would follow suit.
Congress can’t throw no-hitters
or win a World Series, but it is supposed to keep the country’s financial house
in order. But too many members of the House can’t get that through their
collectivist heads.
House Republicans struck a
compromise deal with a Democratic president to continue an existing income tax
rate that would otherwise have increased taxes for everyone. The compromise
also has the estate tax going from 0 to 35 percent instead of 50 percent. It
also includes a provision to extend unemployment benefits.
Even though President Obama
accepts the compromise as valuable, there are House Democrats who don’t. On the
same day as the Phils resign Cliff Lee, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her
spend-happy colleagues brought a 1,900-page spending plan to Congress that will
add an additional $1.1 trillion to the deficit.
This is completely senseless.
The country is in debt to the tune of $13.7 trillion and neither congress, nor
the president, have a clue to get this under control. One must wonder if they
care. They certainty don’t seem to understand that it’s a matter of spending,
not taxes.
The Phillies increased their
payroll beyond their desired limit, but they are already looking for ways to
reduce salaries by trading some higher paid players. Baseball is a business and
a team has to watch its bottom line.
The country is not a business,
but members of Congress—both Democrats and Republicans—must realize they’re
spending money that belongs to the people and it’s the people who will have to
pay off that debt—eventually—one way or the other.
Outsourcing proposals cause friction among school board members
The Unionville-Chadds Ford
School Board meeting began innocently enough. Superintendent Sharon Parker
announced that all six schools in the district had been recognized by the state
for adequate yearly progress for the last two years and school principals
accepted the plaques of recognition.
But the tone of the Dec. 13
meeting changed when the discussion shifted to the requests for proposals on
outsourcing. School Board Director Paul Price claimed there was a conflict of
interest among those who wrote the requests.
“People writing the RFPs are
the ones who would lose their jobs [if certain services are outsourced],” Price
said.
The discussion at the time
concerned requests for proposal about custodial and ground services. There are
also RFPs for food, transportation and banking services.
Other directors challenged
him, with Frank Murphy saying Price owed people an apology for accusing people
of a conflict of interest.
Price, a dentist turned
investment counselor, reiterated a charge from last month when the board
discussed an RFP on transportation. He said none of the RFPs explicitly tell
consultants to compare the costs of keeping the services in-house or retaining
outside providers.
“There’s
almost nothing in the proposals about outsourcing,” Price said.
Murphy challenged that charge
also, saying the cost/benefit comparison requests are written in the scope and
purpose of the requests.
Price said the RFPs reflected
bias against outsourcing, but Holly Manzone, another director, said it was
Price who was bringing bias to the issue, a bias in favor of outsourcing.
Directors Jeff Leiser and
Timotha Trigg also supported the RFPs as written.
Leiser reiterated Murphy’s
statement that the issue was properly addressed, while Trigg said it wasn’t a
matter of getting bids at this time.
Other directors were visibly
uncomfortable. They were squirming slightly in their seats and hiding their
faces in their hands while issuing muffled groans.
Price, who called himself a
professional writer, was asked to submit what he thought would be appropriate
wording for the requests for proposal so the RFPs could be mailed by Dec. 17.
Other business
The board also
continued discussion on student activity fees. No action was taken, but a fee
schedule needs to be finalized by the time the board puts together the next
budget. A current proposal calls for a scaled activity fee of $75, $50, $25 and
$10.
Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.
• Pennsylvania State Police from the Avondale barracks
reported a minor accident with no injuries on Route 52 near Route 926 in
Pennsbury Township on Dec. 12. The report said one driver was following too
closely on a wet road and rear-ended the vehicle ahead of it.
• Police report one injury of unknown severity following a
two-vehicle accident on Route 202 near Garnett Ford shortly after 1 a.m. on
Dec. 12. The injured woman was identified as Joan Ressel, 51, of Claymont. She
was a passenger in the car driven by Richard J. Ressel. Charged in the accident
was Robert A. McDonald, 19, of Philadelphia.
According to the report, the Ressels were in the left hand lane traveling north
on Route 202 when McDonald, driving south, lost control of his car and crossed
into the oncoming traffic. Concordville EMS responded to the accident, but
there was no transport, the report said.
• The Victoria’s Secret store at the Shoppes of Brinton Lake
was ripped off to the tune of $562.50 worth of merchandise on Dec. 7. A skimpy
police report said the unidentified perpetrator fled in a green Chevrolet
Impala with Delaware tags.
• State police from Troop K are investigating a Dec. 4
assault at the Concord Country Club. A report said police are looking for Corey
Lewis, 23, of Delaware for allegedly striking a 21-year-old from Bear, Del. at
the country club. According to the report, the accused punched the victim in
the left eye following a verbal argument.
Ariel is an adult spayed female domestic long hair cat that
is available for adoption through the Chester
County SPCA. Ariel originallycame to the shelter as a stray in October. She was adopted into a home; however,
she did not get along with the other animals in the home so she was brought
back to the shelter. Ariel’s
previous adopters describe this beautiful, petite kitty as a “Diva” who
deserves to be the only cat in the home.
Approximately 8 years old, Ariel likes to spend her days relaxing and
being brushed. Due
to her age and a slight heart murmur, Ariel is eligible for the Chester County
SPCA’s Eagles Purrfect Play for Cats adoption incentive program. This special
program, made possible through a gift from the Philadelphia Eagles Treating
Animals With Kindness (TAWK) program, allows the Chester County SPCA to offer a
discounted adoption fee of only $25 for all special needs cats or cats over the
age of 5! If you are able to
provide Ariel a loving home, visit the Chester County SPCA at 1212 Phoenixville
Pike in West Goshen or call 610-692-6113. Ariel’s registration number is
96802161. The Chester County SPCA
and the Spayed Club are offering a low cost spay/neuter transport clinic to the
Chester County community on Thursday, January 13, 2011. This clinic is open to
all cats and male dogs.
Appointments need to be made directly with The Spayed Club Spay/Neuter
Clinic no later than Tuesday, January 11 by calling 484-540-8436. To meet some
of the other animals available for adoption, visit the shelter or log onto www.ccspca.org.
This is the time of year when the colorful veil of the
garden drops, leaving the “bones”:
the underlying structure that gives the garden substance year-round. The
bones of a garden provide support in the summer, but become crucial in the
winter, when they are bared for all to see. They give geometry to your
yard—lines, angles, and curves—that create an eye-pleasing foundation for the
changing display of color, form, and texture during the growing season. You can
create structure in your garden in a number of ways.
Rock and Stone
Paths, stone walls, gravel beds, stepping stones, and the
like provide structure and serve important functions in the garden. One mistake
many people make when designing a garden is neglecting to include a ways for
people to move through the garden as well as maintain it. Walkways guide
visitors, direct their attention to focal points, and provide ways to access
the garden for weeding and other tasks so the gardener doesn’t have to step in
the planting bed, which can compact the soil. Rocks add naturalistic structure
to the garden, whether used decoratively or functionally as walls or for
terracing. In winter, rock and stone become a striking part of the landscape,
making up for some of the vertical structure lost when plants die down.
Manmade Objects
Weather-proof benches and chairs, gazebos, trellises,
arbors, fences, garden ornaments, and statuary can provide focal points in any
season. Scrollwork and other detailing catch snow, adding to their charm on a
wintry day. Garden furniture gives
the gardener a place to perch on days when the weather is tolerable, providing
an opportunity to sit in the winter garden and imagine the spring blooms and
summer sunshine to come.
Lighting
While lighting certainly serves a utilitarian function, in
the garden it can also add drama, focus attention on specimen plantings, and
provide direction for pathways. Lamp posts, lanterns, ornamental lighting
fixtures, spotlights, and sunken lights add interest year-round. And there’s nothing
like watching snowflakes falling softly in the winter garden at night.
Evergreens
Conifers and other evergreen trees, vines, groundcovers,
and broadleaf plants such as rhododendrons, hollies, laurels, and some
magnolias, provide natural screening, outline garden areas, and add a
much-needed dose of green as a tonic for the winter doldrums. Many evergreens are also wonderful for
cutting and taking indoors, either to put in vases or for wreaths and swags. Junipers,
pines, hollies, arborvitaes, magnolias, laurels, and cedars are examples of
plants that can take a little winter “pruning” for the benefit of winter
arrangements. Many also provide a lovely scent as well.
Plants with Winter Interest
Ornamental grasses, berrying shrubs and trees, and dried flower
heads provide texture, movement, and in some cases color. With their leaves
gone, trees show off their branch structure and bark, which can be quite
ornamental. Some, such as red-twig dogwood, provide dramatic color as well. Heucheras (coral bells), lamb’s ears,
and lavender are among the plants with foliage that is attractive through the
winter. You can use weather-resistant containers (those that can freeze without
ill effect) for small winter shrubs or winter arrangements made from cuttings
stuck into the soil. A few plants even bloom in the winter, or so early in the
spring that it seems like winter. These include some hellebores, camellias,
witch-hazels, and bulbs such as snowdrops and winter aconite.
Water Features
Water can provide ornamental value in the garden but is
also a wonderful way to attract wildlife, particularly birds, during the winter
months when fresh, unfrozen water may be difficult to find. In our area, a heat
source is required to prevent water features from freezing, unless the body of
water is very large and deep. A heated birdbath will attract winter birds
better than even the best birdseed and can be quite pretty edged with snow.
Winter is a good time of year to reassess the structure of
your garden. Make note of places where
you want to screen out an unattractive view, add a permanent focal point, or
change the shapes or lines of your borders. A great garden looks good every month of the year. Make sure
yours has the bones to pull it off.
* Nancy Sakaduski is the Chester County
Master Gardener Coordinator. Master Gardeners are trained volunteers who
educate the public on gardening and horticultural issues. In Chester
County, they operate through the Penn State Cooperative Extension office in
West Chester. Nancy lives in Pennsbury Township. She can be reached
at nds13@psu.edu.
In this
gift-giving season, allow me to suggest some books to buy for family and
friends (and yourself for that matter).
· How to Be an Adult: A Handbook for Psychological and Spiritual
Integration by David Richo, Ph.D. (Paulist
Press). This book I’ve surely mentioned before, but is such a nugget of wisdom
that it seems appropriate to highlight it again. The author describes his
little text as a handbook on how to become an adult. Adulthood is not a
chronological affair. We can be overwhelmed by childhood and old family of
origin themes even at the age of eighty-five if we do not take the time for
self-examination. This little book is meant to be savored and meditated upon,
little by little.
· The Dance of Fear: Rising Above Anxiety, Fear, and Shame to Be
Your Best and Bravest Self by Harriet Lerner, Ph.D. (New York:
Harper). Lerner has written numerous books, starting with her widely read Dance of Anger. All are filled with
personal stories, humor and wisdom about how to navigate the world of self in
relationships. Dance of Fear grapples
with anxiety, fear, and shame, inviting us to discover our brave selves.
· Extraordinary
Relationships: A New Way of Thinking About Human Interactions, by Roberta Gilbert, M.D.. (New York: Wiley). Here is another
book about self in relationships. Like, Lerner, Gilbert bases her understanding
of relationships on the work of pioneer family therapist, Murray Bowen. And so,
here the reader learns how to handle relationships without being overwhelmed by
them or by going to the other extremes, being cut off from them. Perhaps if we
learn how to stay in relationships and manage conflict at home and in our
community, the circle can widen to effect the same skills in the community of
nations.
· Stitches, by David Small. (Toronto:
McClelland & Stewart). This is a “cartoon” memoir gifted to me by some dear
Canadian friends. David Small takes us into the darkness of his confusing
childhood in which truth is unspoken and feelings are unacknowledged. He draws
us into his childhood trauma of throat surgery which leaves him a “a virtual
mute” due to one of his vocal chords having been removed. Ultimately, in the
facing of his past, Small reclaims his voice in his art and writing.
· The Grace of Silence, by Michele
Norris. (New York: Pantheon Books). Another memoir, this one is by Michele
Norris, NPR co-host of All Things
Considered. Norris explores her African-American roots, unearthing family
secrets, discovering how her father was shot by a Birmingham police officer
just weeks after his discharge from the Navy at the end of World War II. There
is ambiguity here about when a family truth is to be told.
· The Greatest Story Oversold, by
Stan G Duncan. (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books). Duncan is both an economist and a
pastor and so takes on globalization with a moral critique that is faith-based.
Not a fun read, but a wakeup call to see the dots and how they connect in our
global environmental and financial crises.
So for
yourself or for someone who might like to be enlightened (hopefully, not
en-darkened by the heavy topics), how about a book this Christmas? Just to
note, the first three books above (How To
Be an Adult, Dance of Fear, and Extraordinary Relationships) would be
helpful reads for handling the family stressors of the holidays.
* Kayta Curzie
Gajdos holds a doctorate in counseling psychology and is in private practice in
Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. She welcomes comments atMindMatters@DrGajdos.com or (610)388-2888. Past columns are posted towww.drgajdos.com.
Dr. Kathleen Curzie Gajdos ("Kayta") is a licensed psychologist (Pennsylvania and Delaware) who has worked with individuals, couples, and families with a spectrum of problems. She has experience and training in the fields of alcohol and drug addictions, hypnosis, family therapy, Jungian theory, Gestalt therapy, EMDR, and bereavement. Dr. Gajdos developed a private practice in the Pittsburgh area, and was affiliated with the Family Therapy Institute of Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, having written numerous articles for the Family Therapy Newsletter there. She has published in the American Psychological Association Bulletin, the Family Psychologist, and in the Swedenborgian publications, Chrysalis and The Messenger. Dr. Gajdos has taught at the college level, most recently for West Chester University and Wilmington College, and has served as field faculty for Vermont College of Norwich University the Union Institute's Center for Distance Learning, Cincinnati, Ohio. She has also served as consulting psychologist to the Irene Stacy Community MH/MR Center in Western Pennsylvania where she supervised psychologists in training. Currently active in disaster relief, Dr. Gajdos serves with the American Red Cross and participated in Hurricane Katrina relief efforts as a member of teams from the Department of Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.Now living in Chadds Ford, in the Brandywine Valley of eastern Pennsylvania, Dr. Gajdos combines her private practice working with individuals, couples and families, with leading workshops on such topics as grief and healing, the impact of multigenerational grief and trauma shame, the shadow and self, Women Who Run with the Wolves, motherless daughters, and mediation and relaxation. Each year at Temenos Retreat Center in West Chester, PA she leads a griefs of birthing ritual for those who have suffered losses of procreation (abortions, miscarriages, infertility, etc.); she also holds yearly A Day of Re-Collection at Temenos.Dr. Gajdos holds Master's degrees in both philosophy and clinical psychology and received her Ph.D. in counseling at the University of Pittsburgh. Among her professional affiliations, she includes having been a founding member and board member of the C.G. Jung Educational Center of Pittsburgh, as well as being listed in Who's Who of American Women. Currently, she is a member of the American Psychological Association, The Pennsylvania Psychological Association, the Delaware Psychological Association, the American Family Therapy Academy, The Association for Death Education and Counseling, and the Delaware County Mental Health and Mental Retardation Board. Woven into her professional career are Dr. Gajdos' pursuits of dancing, singing, and writing poetry.
